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How long could scientists wait to administer adult neural stem cells to disabled mice and restore their ability to use their limbs?

“We're excited by the results and interested in finding out how the spinal cord signals the cells to perform a beneficial task.” BRIAN CUMMINGS, pictured above at left

“It's exciting because (the cells) interpreted the injured environment ... on their own and differentiated into cell types that replace those that are lost.” AILEEN ANDERSON, pictured above at right

Adult neural stem cells are turned into neurospheres before being put into mice.

UCI neurobiologists Brian Cummings and Aileen Anderson used adult neural stem cells to restore movement in mice that had lost the use of their hind limbs. The achievement, reported Monday in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the latest to suggest that many types of stem cells might be useful for treating spinal cord injuries.

How they did it

1. Scientists anesthetized mice, then damaged the area of the animal’s spinal cord that controls the hind limbs.

2. Nine days later, researchers injected neural stem cells near the damaged area. Then they observed the mice for four months.

3. Some of the transplanted neural cells turned into oligodendrocytes, cells in the brain and spinal cord. This probably led to the partial repair of the insulation of the spinal cord.

4. Some cells also turned into new neurons that connected with mice neurons. To differing degrees, the experiment restored the ability of more than 20 research mice to use their hind limbs again and walk in a coordinated way.

5. The mice lost their walking ability when the scientists injected them with a toxin and destroyed the adult neural stem cells.

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